World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Joint efforts are crucial for rehabilitating millions of flood-affected people, whose livelihood is related to the early recovery of agriculture sector (..). The minister said it while meeting a joint delegation of UNHCR, WFP and WHO comprising Louis-Georges Arsenault (Director UNICEF), Daniel Toole Regional (Director for South Asia), Eric Laroche (Assisatnt Director-General, WHO) Dr Naeema al-Gaseer and David Kaatrud (Chief of Assessment, analysis and preparedness service, WFP).

The World Food Programme (WFP) has asked for a $180 million cash grant for use in October and November as the agency fears a shortage of essential components in the food basket. (..) “There will be a large number of people who will need food and for that we need cash,” said David Kaatrud, WFP director of emergencies. “This emergency is beyond the capacity of just the UN. The government needs to take the lead. The WFP needs tremendous help and support and the donors need to facilitate our efforts as soon as possible. There are in-country stocks for the upcoming months and we can do local purchases provided we have the cash.(..),” Kaatrud told The Express Tribune.

Representatives of three United Nations organisations — World Food Programme, World Health Organisation and Unicef — have assured Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah of more assistance to be provided by the international community through the United Nations for relief and rehabilitation of flood-affected people in Sindh.

Pakistan’s fight against militants has been constrained by the need to deploy troops to help victims of recent devastating floods, the senior US official for Pakistan and Afghanistan said on Tuesday. (..) Holbrooke said the United States has taken the lead in providing emergency aid, committing $340 million to $350 million on its own and making a total contribution of close to $1 billion if the US-funded activities of international groups such as Unicef and the World Food Program are included.

UN aid agencies warned on Tuesday that flood stricken areas of Pakistan faced a looming threat of child malnutrition although the overall health situation was broadly under control for now. (..) The World Food Programme said it had received about one sixth of the 600 million dollars (460 million euros) needed to ensure adequate supplies to avoid a deeper crisis. “One of our biggest focuses right now is our concerns about nutrition for young children,” said WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella.

The United Nations Organization continues to make desperate appeals to the international community in its quest to help twenty-one million people stave off disaster and overcome one of the worst global catastrophes in the planet's recent history. (..) Although the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP) are making every effort to reach those most at need, according to Elisabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) "The situation on the ground remains critical,".

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday fervently urged member states to help the people of Pakistan deal with the grave situation left behind by the unprecedented floods, saying “your support is crucial now more than ever.” (..) “No one could have predicted the scale and enormity of this catastrophe where women and children are facing a dangerous downwards spiral of hunger and malnutrition,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said. “We need to scale-up now and we need to scale up quickly.”

From the start of the tragedy, aid agencies warned that not enough help was flowing into flood-devastated Pakistan. "No one could have predicted the scale and enormity of this catastrophe where women and children are facing a dangerous downwards spiral of hunger and malnutrition," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said (..). "The road to recovery will be long and arduous and Pakistan will need all the help it can get to build back from this disaster," Sheeran said.

Suhani Bunglani fans flies away from her two baby girls as one sleeps motionless while the other stares without blinking at the roof of their tent, her empty belly bulging beneath a green flowered shirt. (..) The World Food Program alone has fed more than 4 million people since the crisis began, distributing monthly rations that include nutrition-packed foods for children. But the sheer geographic and human scale of the disaster is overwhelming, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called it the worst he has ever seen.

The first major population centre we reached was Sukkur. A few weeks into the crisis, parts of it had been submerged. (..) A huge aid distribution centre has been set up here by the UN World Food Programme (WFP). "The number of people we have had to give assistance to is incredible," says Dorte Jessen, WFP chief officer in Sindh. "We are talking about serving over a million people from this centre alone, and over seven million people in Sindh."